Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Novel Unit

How does science fiction reflect the hopes, dreams, and fears of mankind?

What is the meaning and purpose of sentient existence?

Prior to reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I will introduce my students to the concept of parody and of science fiction.

I begin with two quotes, each similar in significance but different in style. Chronologically, they were spoken almost a millennium apart, but serve as evidence for the continued importance of questioning to all orders of higher education.

“The first key to wisdom is constant questioning…by doubting we are led to inquiry, and by inquiry we discern the truth.” -Peter Abeland (1079-1142)

“It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.” -James Thurber (1894-1961)

CCSS:

RL 12.3. Analyze the impact of the author‘s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).

RL 12.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.

RL 12.5. Analyze how an author‘s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.

RL 12.6 Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).

Use of humor: gallows, epigrammatic, irony, satire, deadpan, farcical, sarcasm – use padlet to have students post examples?

Gallows Humor – grim and ironic humor in a desperate or hopeless situation.

Epigrammatic Humor – Short, quotable humor that emphasizes brevity, expressed in one- or two-liners, often disguised as a philosophical observation.

Sarcasm: Humor with an attitude, used to tease, humiliate, and manipulate people. Overlaps with irony and tongue-in-cheek.

Irony: Humor based on deliberate or accidental incongruity.

Farce: Characters get themselves into unlikely or exaggerated scenarios and have to think their way out, becoming increasingly ridiculous along the way. Farce can be more intellectual or less intellectual.

Discuss the impact of Deep Thought, a computer used for philosophical thinking. What would be the implications of something like this existing? Do we already give too much power to computers? What is the possibility that we will lose the ability to do rational thinking at some point?